A Poinsettia for Christmas - Is Yours Doomed or Will it Get a Second Chance?

No other plants spell Christmas as much as Poinsettias do. Right around Thanksgiving they appear in every store that handles plants and millions are purchased to decorate homes and businesses.
Even though there are nowadays other colors and strangely formed bracts available, it must have been the showy, bright red and green leaves, called bracts, that have turned the Poinsettia into a favorite of the Christmas season.

The Poinsettias that are sold for the Holidays are mostly grown in greenhouses where moisture and hours of daylight can be controlled. Once the plants go to market, growing conditions are not quite so ideal. Poinsettias like moist soil but no standing water, they like sunshine and don't like sudden temperature changes or drafts. Not having those conditions often causes a rapid decline and the leaves fall prematurely. At that point probably most Poinsettia plants are doomed and go into the trash.

If you took better care of your Poinsettia and nursed it along into early spring, when the leaves fall naturally , you might be ready to give it a second chance. Cut the stems back to two buds, reduce watering to a minimum, stop fertilizing and store in a cool spot until late spring.

When there is no more danger of frost, set the pot in light shade outdoors. By July you can resume fertilizing and might consider repotting into a larger pot. In August you can cut the stems back to just three leaves per shoot to make the plant bushier. If you live in a milder climate, your poinsettia might survive outside in a sheltered spot, otherwise, when there is any danger of frost, you should bring the plant inside.

Since the bracts only turn color when the plant experiences long nights, it should be in the dark from 5 pm to 8 am the next day for ten weeks, starting in late September. If you follow that schedule you should have your Poinsettia bloom again by Christmas.

Learn more about this author, Elisabeth Mcgill.
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